


An Unanticipated Kid

by ericsonclan



Series: OG World [57]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Goats, Memories, Names
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26885626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Louis, Aasim and Willy bring back a surprise to Ericson.
Relationships: Clementine/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: OG World [57]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815361
Kudos: 6





	An Unanticipated Kid

It was a peaceful day at Ericson. Prisha and Violet were tanning some rabbit pelts while Omar started to gather wood for fire in preparation for the later meal of the day. Clementine and Ruby were off in the greenhouse gathering vegetables and herbs and maintaining the planters. AJ stood on the watchtower, the binoculars in his right hand as he stared out into the forest before him. Luckily it seemed like there were very few walkers roaming outside the gates today. AJ lifted up the binoculars to his eyes to count all of the walkers.

_ One….  _ AJ moved the binoculars over to the right and spotted another walker beside a tree, running into it before turning and walking into another tree.  _ That’s two…  _ AJ moved his attention back to the left and spotted another walker moseying around a small patch of grass while a few birds flew off in fear.  _ Three. That should be it.  _ AJ placed his hands down. Watch duty was almost up for him. He needed to be sure to find Omar to let him know that it was his turn next.  _ I hope there’s a lot of stew tonight, _ AJ’s stomach growled in agreement. His hand wandered up to his stomach, clutching it when suddenly out of the corner of his eye AJ noticed some odd movement. 

Lifting the binoculars up to his face again, he looked straight down the center to see Aasim and Louis struggling to hold onto what looked like some sort of fuzzy, white animal. Aasim held on desperately to the rope along with Louis who seemed to be mumbling some words that AJ figured were probably encouraging ones thanks to the smile on his face. Willy ran forward, the pile of rabbits bouncing on his shoulder when he paused and drew his bow back, taking out the walker that was by the patch of grass. 

“Violet, Prisha!” AJ turned around to look at the couple sitting at one of the picnic tables. “The hunting party is back! And they have some sort of animal with them!” Violet and Prisha shared a look before running towards the door by the gate where AJ had already jumped down. AJ waved for them to make their way over while Willy took out the walker that was still occupied by the tree in its way.

Willy returned the gesture before helping Aasim and Louis drag the animal inside. Violet and Prisha made room for them as Ruby and Clementine ran forward.

“What in tarnation? How in the world did you find a mountain goat?” Ruby looked on in disbelief as Aasim struggled to hold back the kicking animal. 

Louis looked over at Clementine with his usual charismatic smile. “Hey Clem, I guess we have a kid now,” 

Before Clementine could respond the mountain goat used its jet black horns to ram into Louis’ gut. 

Louis let out a small gasp as he flew backwards, landing hard on his butt and sliding back a ways, causing a pile of dust to form in the air.

“Louis!” Clementine ran over to check on her boyfriend, waving her hand in front of her face to push away the dust. “Are you okay?” She offered a hand which he readily accepted.

“Who, me? Yep! I guess we ended up with an unruly youngster,” He flashed a smile when Ruby spoke up again.

“We need to get this goat secured before we can even think about what needs to be done,” Ruby ran forward and grabbed onto the rope to help Aasim.

“Omar, can you cover watch duty?” Clementine looked over at him. 

Omar simply nodded before climbing up onto the tower. 

“Ruby, need any help?” 

Ruby waved a hand for a second then wrapped it around the rope to help rein in the powerful creature. “I need anyone who doesn’t have any large injuries to help out,” Ruby let out a annoyed grunt before looking back “That doesn’t exclude you though, Louis,”

Louis shook his head playfully while rubbing the spot where the goat had headbutted him. “I wouldn’t dream of it,”

“Less talking, more helping,” Aasim hissed while he spun the rope tighter on his arm. Willy and AJ ran forward to help, slowly guiding the mountain goat over to a nearby tree. 

“Clem, Violet, Prisha. Can you start gathering wood and other things? We’re gonna need a pen to contain this here mountain goat.” Ruby took a deep breath while holding onto the rope. 

The three girls were soon off and gathering wood here and there, trying to find what they hoped would be helpful for the animal pen. Soon the wrangling group had moved the stubborn mountain goat towards the tree. After a few shaky attempts due to the goat’s struggling, Ruby had been able to get a bowline knot securing it in place. 

Ruby brushed away a strand of hair on her forehead, looking at the now contained goat with a proud smile. “Alright, we need to go help the girls with the pen,” Ruby instructed the four boys who had collapsed on the ground.

“Alright, time for round two,” Louis shakily got to his feet before helping up AJ. Aasim soon followed, helping up Willy who seemed to still have an abundance of energy left as he ran over to help Prisha with the load of supplies she was carrying. 

With some instruction from Ruby and the hard work and determination of the rest of the group, the pen was slowly coming together. Bit by bit the team put together the animal pen. The sky slowly changed from a calming blue to the comforting, warm orange signalling that it was nearing dinner time. Omar had switched off with Aasim and had gone over with Willy to help prep for dinner. 

When the animal pen had been completed to the best of the group’s ability, Ruby gave the signal, waving over Aasim and Willy to help out again. The white mountain goat struggled, kicking and bleating while it tried to free itself from the rope that helped pull it into the pen. It took all of the wrangling group’s energy and strength but they successfully got the animal inside, tying the rope around a post until they could figure out the best course of action.

“Will this pen hold it?’ Prisha studied her handiwork, unsure of its durability.

“It’ll do for now,” Clementine held a hand up to her chin, “But we’ll probably have to keep improving on it.”

“So are you going to tell us why the hell you brought back a mountain goat?” Violet glared over at Louis, Aasim and Willy who all shared a look before starting to talk at the same time. Their overlapping explanations only seemed to confuse the others more. Ruby was about to try and ask them to start over one at a time when Omar spoke.

“Dinner’s ready! Get it before it gets cold!” he called out from over by the stew pot.

Everyone immediately made their way over. Violet was scary when angry, but it was nothing compared to Omar’s wrath whenever someone was super late to dinner. Soon everyone had gotten their share of food and started digging in when Clementine brought up the topic again.

“So, Louis, mind telling me why you and the other two brought back a mountain goat?”

Louis looked up at Clementine with a spoon still in his mouth. He slowly pulled out the spoon and with a rough swallow got his food down. 

“Well, you see, we were hunting today and had finished up early and we wanted to check out a place to set up some more traps up north. That’s when we ran into the goat,” Louis awkwardly scratched the back of his head. 

“So we wrangled it with some of the rope we had brought along,” Willy exclaimed happily. A few chunks of stew flew out of his mouth which caused Omar and Ruby to shake their heads in disapproval. 

“But I’m curious why you thought to bring it back,” Prisha placed down her spoon.

“We figure it may be a good source of milk if we were lucky.” Aasim stated simply, taking another sip from his stew.

“It was really all because of something that we remember Mitch saying a few years back,” Louis mumbled into his stew, taking another big bite.

“And what was that?” Ruby leaned forward. The air around the conversation had turned more intense. It always did whenever the dead were brought up. 

“He said he saw a mountain goat out past the safe zone,” Willy chirped in, his expression a mixture of joy and sadness at the memory. “But no one believed him.”

“It’s because it sounded ridiculous,” Aasim shook his head. “Marlon was really upset about him going past the safe zone.” The air took on an even heavy tone with that name. 

“But…” Louis’ voice drew everyone’s attention towards him, “We found  _ that  _ beautiful creature,” He gestured over to the goat who was struggling against its restraints. Its patchy white fur blew in the gentle wind. It froze for a minute when it felt the group’s eyes looking at it. Its beady brown eyes looked back, staring deeply into Clementine’s as if it was looking into her soul before letting out a slow deep bleat. 

Clementine looked away and back at the pair of boys. “Well, if it does produce milk, that could be a huge asset,”

“Yeah, but what do goats even eat?” Violet pushed aside her empty bowl towards the center of the table. 

“I think it’s just grass,” Aasim replied. His eyes squinted in concentration as if he was trying to recall some facts he had read long ago. 

“That sounds about right,” Ruby nodded in agreement.

“So are we going to keep it?” AJ leaned forward, a look of excitement in his eyes.

“I don’t know, kiddo, does everyone think it’s worth it?” Clementine looked at the group.

No one seemed opposed to the idea.

“I think it would be wise to keep it,” Prisha put down her spoon. “It could really help us out if it does produce milk.”

“Well, I’m glad you feel that way,” Louis spun around the chair he was sitting on, “Because I was hoping we could name it tonight!”

AJ and Willy shared an ecstatic look at the suggestion.

“Okay, that sounds like fun,” Clementine had a small smile on her face. “Anyone have any ideas?”

Oh, oh!” AJ bounced impatiently on his seat. “How about Shiv?”

“I like it!” Willy leaned over to look at his friend. The two boys seemed happy about the name choice even though no one else was.

“I don’t know, how about….” Clementine was hoping that a name would pop up in her mind but nothing appeared. 

“Old Whitey!” Louis gave a playful smile but Prisha shook her head.

“No, we should choose something that sounds more… refined,”

Aasim nodded in agreement. “Like Sophocles.” Prisha and Aasim both seemed pleased with that name.

“Nah, it should be something cool that like Mitch would name it, like Kickass!” Willy leaned over, trying to sneak his leftovers to Rosie who had been pawing at his leg all throughout the meal. But one look from Omar made him rethink that and place the bowl back up.

“I don’t know, I think it should be something classic,” Ruby butted into the conversation, “like Billy or Wooly or-” 

“Shitsticks,” Violet said with a smirk.

The group looked at her, unsure how serious her suggestion was. 

“Anyway,” Clementine tried to steer the conversation back on track. “We don’t need to find a name tonight. We could always sleep on it and-” She suddenly stopped when she heard Louis excitedly gasp. 

“I just got the best name,” Louis leaned his elbows onto the chair. “Honestly, I’m shocked it took me this long to think of it. But still, I guess my genius mind takes some time to-”

“Just say the damn name!” Violet snapped, crossing her arms. 

Louis dramatically made a rainbow motion over his head. “Milky Way,” He flashed a proud smile at his family. “Think about it. It's a goat that may produce milk, it has white fur, and it’s just an awesome name.”

Everyone was silent at the name suggestion, from shock that it was actually a good suggestion although it was no surprise that Louis had chosen a pun name.

“I. Love. It!” Willy jumped up onto his feet with a happy grin. Garbage, who had been content with her nap on Willy’s lap, gave an annoyed hiss before running off to her small den.

“I do too!” AJ smiled over at Louis. 

“It’s not a bad name, I'll give you that,” Aasim added. 

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Violet grumbled with a flat tone, but the small smile betrayed her, revealing her true feelings. 

“Well, if everyone is for it,” Clementine looked around the group “You want to name it Milky Way?” 

Everyone chattered in agreement. 

“I should go check on Milky Way then after I get the dishes done,” Omar got up, grabbing his bowl. The two boys snatched up their bowls while offering to help Omar in hopes that they could also visit the mountain goat. 

“Well in that case, Aasim, would you like to go talk about fixing up the pen and improving it?” Prisha glanced across the table towards him. 

Aasim nodded and grabbed his bowl.

“I’ll join ya,” Ruby went around and grabbed the others’ dishes with a smile “My old man used to talk about his time back on the farm where he grew up so I might know a thing or two.”

Prisha and Aasim seemed grateful for the help and the trio went off to talk, leaving Clementine, Louis and Violet at the table. 

“Well, want to visit the newest member of our family?” Louis gave an excited grin and walked over, offering Clementine a hand up which she accepted with an appreciative smile.

“Yeah, that sounds nice,” Clementine chuckled when she saw AJ and Willy dragging Omar over to Milky Way. “You coming, Vi?”

“Sure,” Violet shrugged. “Got nothing better to do,” 

The three walked over, talking about this and that. Clementine felt her enthusiasm bubble up inside her. It really was exciting to have another resource to make Ericson a safe and prosperous home for everyone. 


End file.
